Legal claims defining the scope of protection. Each claim is shown in both the original legal language and a plain English translation.
1. A computer-implemented method for configuring an electronic mail message application to communicate with a server storing electronic mail messages at least one of to and from an electronic mail message account of a user, the computer-implemented method being executed when computer-readable instructions, stored on at least one memory, are executed by at least one processing unit of a computing system, the computer-implemented method comprising: receiving an electronic mail message address and a password from the electronic mail message application; attempting to retrieve server connection settings from a designated server while asynchronously deriving the server connection settings based on the electronic mail message address, wherein the server connection settings are unknown to the electronic mail message application and are necessary for establishing a connection between the electronic mail message application and the server, and wherein deriving server connection settings further comprises: determining a domain portion of the electronic mail message address, wherein the domain portion includes a domain name and a top level domain; prepending one or more known server prefix names to a front end of the domain portion of the electronic mail message address to yield a server domain combination; calculating one or more permutations of the server domain combination; evaluating the one or more permutations of the server domain combination to determine the server connection settings, the evaluating comprising: attempting to establish a connection using the one or more permutations of the server domain combination and the password; and detecting a connection to the server when at least one permutation of the server domain combination is successfully used with the password; and identifying the at least one successful permutation of the server domain combination as the server connection settings; and in response to detecting the connection to the server with the server connection settings, sending the server connection settings to the electronic mail message application.
The system automatically configures an email application. It takes the user's email address and password. It then tries different server connection settings (which the app doesn't already know), derived from the email address's domain. This derivation involves trying common server prefixes (like 'pop', 'mail', 'smtp') combined with the domain name. The system attempts to connect using each prefix combination and the password. If a connection succeeds, it identifies the successful combination as the server settings and sends those settings to the email application. This is all done asynchronously.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein deriving the server connection settings further comprises: a) in response to detecting a connection to the server, determining whether the server connection settings are more optimal than previously stored server connection settings based on at least one of a security criterion, a protocol criterion, and an authentication criterion; and b) in response to determining that the server connection settings are more optimal, storing the more optimal server connection settings as the server connection settings; and repeating a)-b) for each of the one or more permutations of the server domain combination for at least one of receive protocols and send protocols.
Building upon the previous claim, after finding a working server connection, the system checks if it's "better" than previously saved settings based on security (like using SSL), the communication protocol (like IMAP vs. POP3), or how it authenticates. If the new settings are better, they're saved as the current settings. This "best settings" determination is repeated for all the server domain combinations tried, separately for receiving and sending email.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising searching for configured known server prefix names based on the domain portion of the electronic mail message address in order to narrow a number of attempts to connect to the server.
The method from the first claim enhances connection speed by searching a pre-configured list of known server prefix names based on the domain of the email address. By narrowing down the possibilities upfront based on the domain, the number of connection attempts needed to find the correct server settings is reduced. This optimization makes the configuration process faster.
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein attempting to establish a connection to the server comprises simultaneously attempting to establish a connection to the server on a secure port and a non-secure port of the server.
Refining how connections are made, the system from the second claim attempts to connect to a server using both a secure (e.g., SSL/TLS) and a non-secure port at the same time. This speeds up the connection process as it tries both options in parallel.
5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , further comprising: detecting the connection to the server by receiving an affirmative response greeting on a TCP session; and storing the secure port as one of the more optimal server connection settings when the affirmative response greeting is returned on the secure port and on the non-secure port.
Expanding on the previous claim of simultaneous port connection attempts, the system confirms a successful connection by checking for a specific "greeting" message from the server over a TCP session. If that greeting is received on *both* the secure and non-secure ports, the secure port is chosen and saved as the preferred setting. This prioritizes secure connections.
6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the electronic mail message address comprises receiving an electronic mail message address wherein the one or more known server prefix names comprise a POP server prefix name including one of ‘pop’, ‘mail’, ‘sslmail’, ‘pop3’, ‘securepop’ and no server prefix name.
In the method of the first claim, when receiving the email address, the system tries specific "POP" server prefixes, including: 'pop', 'mail', 'sslmail', 'pop3', 'securepop', and also tries connecting with no prefix at all. It attempts all these variations to discover the right POP server settings.
7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the electronic mail message address comprises receiving an electronic mail message address wherein the one or more known server prefix names comprise an IMAP server prefix name including one of ‘mail’, ‘imap’, and no server prefix name.
In the method of the first claim, when receiving the email address, the system tries specific "IMAP" server prefixes, including: 'mail', 'imap', and also tries connecting with no prefix at all. It attempts all these variations to discover the right IMAP server settings.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the electronic mail message address comprises receiving an electronic mail message address wherein the one or more known server prefix names comprise an SMTP server prefix name including one of ‘smtp’, ‘smtpauth’, ‘mail’, ‘mailhost’, ‘securesmtp’, and no server prefix name.
In the method of the first claim, when receiving the email address, the system tries specific "SMTP" server prefixes, including: 'smtp', 'smtpauth', 'mail', 'mailhost', 'securesmtp', and also tries connecting with no prefix at all. It attempts all these variations to discover the right SMTP server settings.
9. A computer-implemented method for configuring an electronic mail message application to communicate with a server storing electronic mail messages for an electronic mail message account of a user, the computer-implemented method being executed when computer-readable instructions, stored on at least one memory, are executed by at least one processing unit of a computing system, the computer-implemented method comprising: receiving an electronic mail message address, wherein the electronic mail message address comprises a plurality of ordered levels of intermediate domain names preceding a top level domain, the plurality of ordered levels beginning with a lowest level and ending with a highest level; discovering server connection settings for the electronic mail message account on a designated server having a designated server name and having the server connection settings, wherein the server connection settings are necessary for establishing a connection between the electronic mail message application and the server, and wherein discovering the server connection settings further comprises: generating a list of one or more designated servers, wherein generating the list comprises at least prepending the designated server name as a prefix to the one or more ordered levels of intermediate domain names preceding the top level domain to form an initial server domain name; attempting to establish a connection to the designated server using the initial server domain name by sending a first HTTP Post command, wherein the HTTP Post command comprises at least the electronic mail message address; in response to failing to establish a connection to the designated server, trimming a lowest level of the one or more ordered levels of intermediate domain names from the initial server domain name; attempting to establish a connection to the designated server using the trimmed initial server domain name by sending a second HTTP Post command, wherein the second HTTP Post command comprises at least the electronic mail message address; in response to establishing a connection to the designated server, retrieving the server connection settings from a file provided by the designated server; and sending the retrieved server connection settings to the electronic mail message application.
This system automatically configures an email application by finding server settings on a designated "autodiscover" server. It takes the user's email address, which can have multiple levels of domain names (like subdomain.example.com). The system first builds a server name by adding the "autodiscover" prefix to the complete domain. It then attempts to connect to this server with an HTTP POST request containing the email address. If that fails, it removes the *lowest* level subdomain and tries again. If a connection succeeds, it retrieves the server settings from a file provided by the "autodiscover" server and sends these settings to the email application.
10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein discovering the server connection settings further comprises: in response to reaching the highest level of the one or more ordered levels of intermediate domain names without connecting to the designated server, applying the designated server name as a server prefix name to a public domain service to form a public server domain name; and searching for the designated server as the server prefix name by sending a request for the server connection settings over a network to the public server domain name.
Continuing from the previous description, if the system fails to connect to the "autodiscover" server after removing *all* subdomains and only the main domain is left, it then tries a "public domain service." It constructs a public domain name (e.g., autodiscover.domain.com) and sends a network request to this domain to find the server settings.
11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein retrieving the server connection settings from the file provided by the designated server comprises retrieving the server connection settings from a markup language file.
In the previous description, the server connection settings are retrieved from the designated "autodiscover" server by parsing a markup language file (e.g., HTML, XML). The system extracts relevant configuration details from the structure of the markup file.
12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 , wherein retrieving the server connection settings from a markup language file comprises retrieving the server connection settings from an XML file provided by the designated server.
Focusing on the type of file retrieved, server connection settings are retrieved from the designated "autodiscover" server from an XML file. The system specifically parses XML formatted data to extract the necessary configuration information.
13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , wherein retrieving the server connection settings from an XML file comprises retrieving the server connection settings from an XML file built by the designated server from a dynamic directory of electronic mail message account server connection settings.
Further specifying the XML file, the XML file that contains the server connection settings is dynamically generated by the "autodiscover" server from a database of mail server configurations. The "autodiscover" server maintains a live directory to create customized XML setting files when the connection is established.
14. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , further comprising: simultaneously deriving the server connection settings based on the electronic mail message address wherein applying the server connection settings to the electronic mail message account comprises applying the server connection settings derived when the server connection settings cannot be discovered.
In the autodiscovery method described earlier (claim 9), the system *also* attempts to determine the server settings using the domain prefix/permutation method (claim 1) concurrently. If the autodiscovery method fails to find the settings, the settings derived using the domain and server prefix variations are used instead. This provides a fallback if autodiscovery doesn't work.
15. The computer-implemented method of claim of claim 9 , wherein retrieving the server connection settings from the file provided by the designated server comprises retrieving the server connection settings both in a version for retrieval inside a firewall and in a version for retrieval outside the firewall.
When retrieving server settings from the file, the system gets two versions: one for use *inside* a firewall and one for use *outside* the firewall. This handles cases where a user is connecting from behind a corporate network, requiring different server addresses or ports.
16. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein the designated server name of the designated server is “autodiscover.”
In the server autodiscovery system, the specific server name used as the prefix for the domain is "autodiscover." So, the system attempts to connect to "autodiscover.domain.com" to find server settings.
17. A computer storage medium, having computer-readable instructions stored thereon for configuring an electronic mail message application to communicate with a server storing electronic mail messages for an electronic mail message account of a user, the method comprising: receiving an electronic mail message address, wherein the electronic mail message address comprises a plurality of ordered levels of intermediate domain names preceding a top level domain, the plurality of ordered levels beginning with a lowest level and ending with a highest level; discovering server connection settings for the electronic mail message account on a designated server having a designated server name and having the server connection settings, wherein the server connection settings are necessary for establishing a connection between the electronic mail message application and the server, and wherein discovering the server connection settings further comprises: generating a list of one or more designated servers, wherein generating the list comprises at least prepending the designated server name as a prefix to the one or more ordered levels of intermediate domain names preceding the top level domain to form an initial server domain name; attempting to establish a connection to the designated server using the initial server domain name by sending a first HTTP Post command, wherein the HTTP Post command comprises at least the electronic mail message address; in response to failing to establish a connection to the designated server, trimming a lowest level of the one or more ordered levels of intermediate domain names from the initial server domain name; attempting to establish a connection to the designated server using the trimmed initial server domain name by sending a second HTTP Post command, wherein the second HTTP Post command comprises at least the electronic mail message address; in response to establishing a connection to the designated server, retrieving the server connection settings from a file provided by the designated server; and sending the retrieved server connection settings to the electronic mail message application.
This describes a computer storage medium (like a hard drive or flash drive) storing instructions to automatically configure an email application. When the computer runs the instructions, it receives the user's email address, which can have multiple levels of domain names (like subdomain.example.com). The system builds a server name by adding the "autodiscover" prefix to the complete domain. It then attempts to connect to this server with an HTTP POST request containing the email address. If that fails, it removes the *lowest* level subdomain and tries again. If a connection succeeds, it retrieves the server settings from a file provided by the "autodiscover" server and sends these settings to the email application.
18. The computer storage medium of claim 17 , wherein discovering the server connection settings further comprises: in response to reaching the highest level of the one or more ordered levels of intermediate domain names without connecting to the designated server, applying the designated server name as a server prefix name to a public domain service to form a public server domain name; and searching for the designated server as the server prefix name by sending a request for the server connection settings over a network to the public server domain name.
Expanding on the previous description of the computer storage medium, if the system fails to connect to the "autodiscover" server after removing *all* subdomains and only the main domain is left, it then tries a "public domain service." It constructs a public domain name (e.g., autodiscover.domain.com) and sends a network request to this domain to find the server settings. The computer storage medium stores the instructions to perform this fallback autodiscovery.
19. The computer storage medium of claim 17 , wherein retrieving the server connection settings from the file provided by the designated server comprises retrieving the server connection settings from a markup language file.
Describing the file on the computer storage medium that contains the connection settings, the server connection settings are retrieved from the designated "autodiscover" server by parsing a markup language file (e.g., HTML, XML). The system extracts relevant configuration details from the structure of the markup file, and the computer storage medium has the ability to access that.
20. The computer storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the designated server name of the designated server is “autodiscover.”
In the previous descriptions, the computer storage medium is connected to a device that automatically configures the email, where the specific server name used as the prefix for the domain is "autodiscover." So, the system attempts to connect to "autodiscover.domain.com" to find server settings, and the computer storage medium assists that with the necessary code.
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November 25, 2014
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